Saturday, August 17, 2013

Private Spies by P.J. Nunn, Blog Tour and Guest Post (August 17)

Welcome to the Jane Reads stop

on the

When Jesse Morgan’s boss and best friend died, she inherited Private Spies, a private investigation firm that specialized in missing persons. Unfortunately, she knew little about the business aside from her intensive work on the computer. But if Joey thought she could handle it, she felt obligated to at least give it a try. How hard could it be, right?

So Jesse took on her first case. Very straightforward. This guy is missing, find him. Oh but wait, he also kidnapped his own daughter. Find her too. Still not that hard. Except when she ran his report, the picture she found on his drivers license is of another guy. And when she found a guy who matched the first picture, he had another name. And when she found a girl that looked like the daughter, she didn’t match anything. Not good.

Enter a retired police officer named Byron (really?) who says before Joey died, he hired him to work for them. Ok. This might be helpful. But then came a stalker, and a dead guy, a dead duck and an increasing list of incidents that all seem confusing to Jesse. Up to her eyeballs in threats and questions, Jesse’s outraged when the woman who hired her decides to fire her. Unbelievable! Unable to stop at that point, Jesse is determined to find the guy and solve the case. If only it was as easy as it sounded.

Private Spies: A Jesse Morgan Mystery

from Tidal Wave Publishing!

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I am very pleased to welcome P.J. Nunn to Jane Reads today!

If you’ve read Private Spies, you’ve met Jesse Morgan and her posse and you know they solved a rather intriguing case (If you haven’t read it yet, it’s not too late!). What happens now? Here’s a peek at Jesse and Bernice discussing a possible new case.

“Bernice! Have you completely lost your mind?!”

Uh oh. Now I’ve done it. As soon as I opened my mouth, Bernice’s lips went tight, her eyes got big as saucers and her eyebrows disappeared completely somewhere up under her helmet hair. “Bernice,” I started again, softer this time, “what I meant to say was…what exactly were you thinking?” I tried to smile but she wasn’t buying it.

Sigh. “Ok, Bernice, I’m sorry I yelled at you…”

“Well I should think so.” Good, she was moving again. “Honestly, I’ve worked here all these years and…and…and…what would you do if I just didn’t come to work? Did you ever think of that?”

Bernice had been the office manager of Private Spies for years, from back in the day before I even worked here, much less after I inherited the place. She was right. We’d be in dire straits without her. It doesn’t look all that neat around here, but you’ll never look for something in this office that Bernice can’t find.

“Yes, Bernice. I’ve thought of that and I don’t want that ever to happen. I know you haven’t lost your mind. I said I’m sorry.” I sank down into my desk chair and waited for my heart to stop pounding so hard. Probably I misunderstood what she’d said.

Bernice shuffled back around to her desk and sat down, punctuating every other movement with a sniff. I sighed again and started to roll my eyes, but stopped, just in case she really can see out the back of her head.

“Let me get this straight,” I tried again. “You took a call from a man who wanted to know if I could help him find a missing,” pause, “ghost?”

“Well,” she looked at me, then kind of looked up at the ceiling like she was thinking about it. Suddenly she nodded and looked back at me. “It was something like that, yes.”

“Okay-ay,” I tried to think how to respond without shouting again because it really the way she answered him that ticked me off. “So when he asked you that, you felt the need to tell him that I could do that?”

Now she gave me belligerent. “Of course I did. Can’t you?” Chin up.

I looked over at Byron’s desk, but he’s still not here. How convenient for him. He’s my partner, and sometimes he saves me just in the nick of time. Not today, apparently.

Maybe she was just impatient, waiting for me to say something, but it’s just as well she spoke up again because I couldn’t think of anything good to say. “Of course you can help him. I asked him if he could see the ghost and he can’t,” she said that like it explained everything.

“Okay,” I nodded, hoping she’d continue, but she didn’t. “He can’t see the ghost, so I can help him find it?”

Now she’s annoyed that I haven’t gotten it yet. “Jesse, all you have to do is tell him you can see it. He won’t know the difference. Then we’ll get a fat finders fee and we can pay all the bills!”

“So you want me to pretend to see a ghost that he wants me to find because he can’t see it. Then you want me to charge him for it?”

“Sure,” she nodded but then her expression turned sad. “I guess that wouldn’t really work that well. We do try to be honest,” she said it like it was distasteful. Bernice loved to make the money. All of a sudden, her expression brightened again.

“Oh no, what did you think of?”

“I totally forgot! That write up of you and Byron in the Dallas Morning News said you were the new kind of private eye that could solve the unsolvable. So that settles it! You’ll just have to figure out how to find the ghost.”

I smiled. I nodded. I thought it was time to go find dinner and not to call the man back until tomorrow. Find the ghost. I got up and grabbed my jacket, then headed for the door.

“Night, Bernice! We’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

~ ~ ~

Look for the sequel to Private Spies entitled No Such Thing as Ghosts, due out in early 2014.